reluctant

English

Etymology

From Latin reluctāns, present participle of reluctor (“to struggle against, oppose, resist”), from re- (“back”) + luctor (“to struggle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈlʌktənt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Adjective

reluctant (comparative more reluctant, superlative most reluctant)

1. (now rare) Opposing; offering resistance (to).
   • 1819 July 15, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London: […] Thomas Davison, […], OCLC 560103767, canto II, stanza 108:

     There, breathless, with his digging nails he clung / Fast to the sand, lest the returning wave, / From whose reluctant roar his life he wrung, / Should suck him back to her insatiate grave [...].

   • 2008, Kern Alexander et al., The World Trade Organization and Trade in Services, page 222:

     They are reluctant to the inclusion of a necessity test, especially of a horizontal nature, and emphasize, instead, the importance of procedural disciplines [...].

2. Not wanting to take some action; unwilling.

   She was reluctant to lend him the money

   Surprisingly, our new dog is a reluctant ball-retriever.

3. (regular expressions) Tending to match as little text as possible.

   Antonym: greedy

Synonyms

• (offering resistance to): refractory
• (not wanting to take some action): unwilling, disinclined

Related terms

• reluctance
• reluctantly

Translations

offering resistance to

• French: récalcitrant (fr), réfractaire (fr)

not wanting to take some action

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Belarusian: неахво́тны (njeaxvótny)
• Bulgarian: неохо́тен (bg) (neohóten)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 不情願, 不情愿 (bù qíngyuàn)

• Czech: neochotný, zdráhající se
• Dutch: aarzelend (nl), schoorvoetend (nl)
• Esperanto: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: haluton (fi), vastahakoinen (fi)
• French: réticent (fr), réservé (fr), rétif (fr)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: zögernd (de), widerwillig (de), widerstrebend (de)
• Hungarian: kelletlen (hu)
• Indonesian: enggan (id)
• Interlingua: reluctante
• Irish: aimhleasc, aimhleisciúil, deacair, dochma, drogallach, iarmhartach, leasc, leisciúil, mífhonnmhar, náir, neamhfhonnmhar, neamhthoilteanach, támáilte
• Italian: riluttante (it)
• Japanese: 嫌がる (ja) (いやがる, iyagaru), 嫌な (ja) (いやな, iya na)
• Khmer: រអាដៃ (rɔ’aa day), អល់អែក (km) (ɑl-aek)
• Korean: 싫어하다 (ko) (sireohada)
• Latin: invītus

• Manx: neuarryltagh, neuwooiagh
• Maori: whakawhēuaua, manauhea, whakakumu, horokukū, whakauaua, korongata, whakatohetohe, manawapā
• Mongolian: дургүй (durgüy)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: motvillig (no)

  Nynorsk: motvillig, motviljug

• Persian: بی‌میل‎ (bi-meyl)
• Plautdietsch: looj
• Polish: niechętny (pl)
• Portuguese: relutante (pt)
• Romanian: reticent (ro), precaut (ro), prevăzător (ro)
• Russian: неохо́тный (ru) (neoxótnyj), нежела́ющий (ru) (neželájuščij)
• Scots: sweer, sweirt, laith
• Scottish Gaelic: aindeònach, leisg
• Slovak: neochotný
• Spanish: renuente (es), reacio (es), reluctante (es), reticente (es)
• Swedish: motvillig (sv), vrång (sv), motsträvig (sv)
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: isteksiz (tr), gönülsüz (tr), hevessiz (tr)
• Ukrainian: неохо́чий (neoxóčyj)
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• reluctant in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• reluctant in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911
• reluctant at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• tralucent